Customer Reviews

Before the Golden Age: A Science Fiction Anthology of the 1930s (Book 3)

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(This review refers to Volume One only.) Asimov has collected eight stories in this anthology that were influential in his own writing. Asimov read most of these stories when he was about 12 years old, being fortunate enough to devour most of them from pulp magazines that were sold in his father's candy store. As might be expected with any anthology, some stories are better than others, and some have held up better through the years than others. Yet these pieces are not included for comparison to current stories, but to show what Asimov read as a young person and how the works influenced him. Asimov's mini-autobiography alone is worth the price of the book. After each story, Asimov tells how an idea or a concept from a story led to the formation of one of his own works. A very interesting idea. "The Jameson Satellite" is a forerunner of "I, Robot," and "Submicroscopic" is a small step from "Fantastic Voyage." As mentioned by another reviewer, the reader will have to deal with several prejudices from the time these stories were written (especially racial), but overall this book is a great insight into what makes Asimov Asimov.

This collection of early, pulp-style scifi works is a great joy. Asimov's introduction to the stories is exceedingly interesting and helpful. The stories sometimes show flaws or problems in their writing and in their attitudes (while several stories are forward-looking, most show the racism and misogyny common to that time), most of the stories are entertaining and all of them are interesting from a historical perspective. Check it out if you can get your hands on it, it's a great find. I really got a kick out of several pieces, which run the gamut from more reasonable 'conquered man, driven underground, strikes back at his evil alien oppressors' to the completely ludicrous story about the planets of our solar system hatching into giant space chickens. (That last story is meant to be taken seriously, by the way.) A veritable laundry-list of great, long out-of-print authors and some wonderful writing from the early days of popular science fiction.

To me the key piece is the 1930's novella "He Who Shrank" by Henry Hasse. To my knowledge this Fawcett paperback is the only place to obtain it. A scientist's apprentice absorbs a serum and grows smaller, ever smaller - the story really begins where 1956's "The Incredible Shrinking Man" ends as the apprentice falls into the fabric of the world. It's adventure, introspective and ultimately self-reflective in a way that's very rare for its time. It knocked off Asimov's socks when he read it, and mine too, 50 years later.

Isaac Asimov chose and edited this stellar collection. I enjoy his often-autobiographical general introduction and his separate short intros to each of the stories. Many of the pieces here find some way of taking the reader's mind and spinning it - a pretty good accomplishment for pre-war pulp.

These stories were lightning bolts to Asimov. Robert Silverberg, writing in Science Fiction 101 talks of the overwhelming impact of grand, mind expanding science fiction, of "a distinct excitement, a certain metabolic quickness at the mere thought of handling them, let alone reading them... you lurch and stagger, awed and shaken into a bewildering new world of images and ideas, which is exactly the place you've been hoping to find all your life." The stories in this anthology and its two sisters provided that electricity to Asimov. They still stand tall and will give you a kick too.

The end of this book is 1938, the beginning fo the Campbell era at Astounding, and there are more Asimov anecdotes throughout, leading up to him having his first sale to the above publication.

Before the Golden Age 3 : Parasite Planet - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Before the Golden Age 3 : Proxima Centauri - Murray Leinster
Before the Golden Age 3 : The Accursed Galaxy - Edmond Hamilton
Before the Golden Age 3 : He Who Shrank - Henry Hasse
Before the Golden Age 3 : The Human Pets of Mars - Leslie F. Stone
Before the Golden Age 3 : The Brain Stealers of Mars - John W. Campbell
Before the Golden Age 3 : Devolution - Edmond Hamilton
Before the Golden Age 3 : Big Game - Isaac Asimov
Before the Golden Age 3 : Minus Planet - John D. Clark
Before the Golden Age 3 : Past Present and Future - Nat Schachner
Before the Golden Age 3 : The Men and the Mirror - Ross Rocklynne


Venus is not a nice place, and it tastes bad.

3 out of 5


Vegie men seek animal matter gold.

3.5 out of 5


Organic space is gross.

3 out of 5


The Atom vs The Brain.

3 out of 5


Leashed off-planet. Wah.

3 out of 5


Ravening violet guns to sort out those protoplasmic chameleons.

3 out of 5


Arctarians 'R Us.

3.5 out of 5


What killed the dinosaurs? Little dinosaurs. With guns.

3 out of 5


Anti-matter menace.

2.5 out of 5


Radium sleep age revival neutron barrier breakout.

4 out of 5


Space pirate-sleuth pendulum problem.

3.5 out of 5